Arsenal and Tottenham set to battle for Bordeaux midfielder Henri Saivet

Arsenal are among a plethora of clubs who have sent scouts to watch Bordeaux midfielder Henri Saivet. The 25-year-old scored in the Ligue 1 club's 2-1 defeat to Liverpool in the Europa League last month and is being scouted for a move in January.

The Mirror reports that the player is available for a fee in the range of £3.5m ($5m) in the new year transfer window, and he has attracted interest from a variety of quarters. The midfielder started his career out wide but has reinvented himself in a deeper midfield role, where the Gunners have a particular interest at the moment, given the barrage of injuries they have suffered in that position.

Tottenham, Everton, Aston Villa, Swansea and Bournemouth are the other clubs interested in the player who has represented France at youth level before opting to play for Senegal, where he was born. The Gunners have been linked with plenty of players in the last few days owing to Arsene Wenger's comment that he may be forced to invest in the market should his internal solutions fail to compensate for the injuries in the squad.

Gunners on miserable injury run

The Gunners are without Jack Wilshere, Tomas Rosicky, Mikel Arteta, Francis Coquelin and Santi Cazorla in the position, leaving Matheiu Flamini and Aaron Ramsey as the only fit players who can be deployed in midfield. Coquelin and Arteta picked up knee and calf injuries respectively against West Bromwich Albion with the Frenchman expected to be out for at least 12 weeks.

Cazorla is reported to have ruptured his knee ligaments in a tackle against Norwich, bringing the Gunners down to their knees in terms of available personnel. Saviet, though inexperienced at the top level, will add some much-deeped depth to the Gunners, who have been riding on the back of some good form displayed by Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez. The Chilean is also out of contention for at least the next three weeks with a hamstring injury, but Theo Walcott is set to return to action against Olympiacos after coming back into first-team training.